Re: Air Force Turns 747 Into Holster for Giant Laser (washingtonpost.com)

[Steve Schear]

At 01:28 AM 7/23/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>On Sun, 22 Jul 2001, Steve Schear wrote:
>
> > I wonder what the destructive mechanism is for this system?
>
>There was an article in IEEE Spectrum last year (I think) on one of the
>systems. The main failure mechanism is weakening of the aeroshell and due
>to increased loading the missile comes apart. The same sort of thing
>happened in Desert Storm with some of the Scuds that used plywood sheeting
>instead of aluminum. It's one of the primary factors of their high failure
>rate.
>
> > Heat by radiant absorption seems an obvious but impractical method.
>
>It's the one they use primarily.

Only because the rocket exterior has not been "stealthed" via high 
reflectivity and faceting.

steve